For Mass. Police, Narcan Saves Are Part of the Job

Aug. 15--Salem Police Patrolman Robert Monk had been on the job for about two weeks when he got a call to respond to a report of a drug overdose.

As Monk pulled up to the Market Basket on Highland Avenue, he saw a woman lying in a mulch bed in the store parking lot. She was unconscious and had stopped breathing.

Monk took a small bag out of his cruiser, grabbed a syringe that he filled with Narcan, and sprayed the drug into the woman's nostrils.

"Literally in about 15 seconds her eyes started to open," he said. "She started to breathe. She sat up. The EMTs got her on a stretcher and took her to the hospital."

"It was amazing," Monk added. "She was dead."

For Monk and other police officers across the North Shore, such life-saving incidents have become all-too common since they began carrying Narcan, a prescription medicine that blocks the effects of opioids and reverses an overdose.

Narcan was administered 12,982 times in Massachusetts in 2015, according to figures from the state Department of Public Health. In Salem, as of May, police officers had administered at least one dose of naloxone in 170 incidents since the department starting using the antidote in March 2014. Those numbers don't include the number of times it has been used by other emergency personnel, such as firefighters and ambulance crews.

Becoming routine

The life-saving rescues often happen quickly and without the public taking notice. But a recent incident in Beverly highlighted the increasing prevalence of Narcan "saves," when officers Ryan Hagerty and Hal Geary revived a unconscious man in a car with his 2-year-old daughter in the backseat. The incident took place in the early evening on a busy street as a crowd gathered to watch.

Police officers acknowledge the emotion and drama of saving a life, but also say administering Narcan has become an almost routine part of the job.

"Honestly, with most of the guys here, it's just another part of our job," said Beverly Police Officer Michael Boccuzzi, who tracks the number of times the drug is administered by Beverly officers. "Everybody throughout the state, the country, we're all faced with this problem. It's become one of our normal calls."

Beverly Police Officer Mark Panjwani is the department's medical director and an emergency medical technician who helps train officers in the use of naloxone. He said some officers were apprehensive at first when the department started using it in mid-2014.

"They're not medical providers," Panjwani said. "But the guys have accepted it and are doing well with it. It works."

For Panjwani, a paramedic who works part-time on an ambulance crew, using Narcan is nothing new. He estimates he's administered the drug at least 100 times over the last 20 years. But the need for Narcan has risen dramatically over the last few years due to the opioid crisis, he said.

Panjwani recalled a case earlier this year when a driver pulled off to a side street near the North Beverly Elementary School, pushed his passenger out of the car, tossed the man's wallet and cellphone on his chest, and drove away. A schoolteacher saw the man lying on the sidewalk and called police.

The man was not breathing when Panjwani arrived, but came around after he gave him a couple of doses of Narcan.

"All of that happened in five to seven minutes," Panjwani said. "It gives us a chance to make a difference."

Officers say some people who are revived with Narcan immediately deny that they have used drugs, even though it only works as an antidote to opiates. Others are upset or combative because the Narcan ruined their high.

Monk said there is little time for interaction with the victim before they are taken to the hospital, but one person did thank him for saving his life.

The problem persists

Officers also expressed frustration that they'll sometimes see the person they saved back on the street, having been released from the hospital. "And we're Narcan-ing them all over again on the same day," Monk said.

Boccuzzi, the Beverly officer, said there have been instances where the same person has been "Narcan-ed" three times in one day.

"It's good because it saved that person's life, but it's not taking care of the problem," Monk said. "They need the treatment."

Peabody Police Chief Thomas Griffin said officers often find themselves in "intense" situations when administering the drug. He estimates that his officers have applied 30 doses in a year and a half.

"Sometimes people don't event want to help themselves," Griffin said. "We have to step in and offer them assistance. It's a good piece of the puzzle for us to have. Nobody likes the other alternative, having to talk to a family about somebody that didn't survive."

Narcan doesn't always work. Monk, the Salem officer, recalled one instance when he, firefighters and EMTs all administered the drug to a victim, only to have him die at the hospital.

The growing use of fentanyl, a particularly potent drug, can make it harder to reverse overdoses. According to the Department of Public Health, emergency providers administered Naloxone 1.4 times per opioid-related incident in the first three months of 2016, indicating that more of the drug is needed to reverse overdoses.

Still, officers say there's no denying the effectiveness of the drug and the fact that it has saved so many lives.

"It's unbelievable to see somebody come from how we find them to what Narcan does in literally just seconds," Monk said.

Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2675 or pleighton@salemnews.com.

Copyright 2016 - The Salem News, Beverly, Mass.